Miss Panoramaland crowned winner of 2024 Miss Utah pageant
Jun 16, 2024, 10:14 AM | Updated: 12:08 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The 91st crowning of Miss Utah took place Saturday night, making contestant number 32, Paris Matthews, Miss Panoramaland, the winner of the official state preliminary pageant to Miss America.
Matthews, who is from Cottonwood Heights, seemed stunned as the confetti fell and she walked across the stage at Capitol Theatre as the state winner. Matthews performed a Jazz Dance for her talent, which was 20% of her overall score. Matthews was awarded Thursday night’s Preliminary Evening Gown Award.
In her first television interview as Miss Utah, Matthews said she looks forward to serving across the state of Utah.
“I work in the Emergency Room at Primary Children’s Hospital,” she said. “My community service initiative is all about giving back to the community and helping hospitalized kids to help them through a very traumatic time.”
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Her community service initiative is called “Power of Play — Advocating for Hospitalized Children.” Matthews has worked as a Child Life Specialist for nearly four years.
“Service is my favorite part of this organization. So I can’t wait to take it to an even larger scale as Miss Utah,” Matthews said.
Matthews won $15,000 in scholarship money Saturday night. She plans to use that money to pursue a Master of Healthcare Administration.
The 51 contestants of the 2024 Miss Utah pageant bow on stage. (KSL TV)
Also recognized on stage was Miss Heber Valley, Marianne Barrus, who won the Overall Instrumentalist Award for her moving classical piano performance of Rachmaninoff’s third movement of Concerto No. 2. Barrus is pursuing a degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
Miss Rocky Mountain, Morgan Workman, earned the Quality of Life Service Award for establishing The Gift of Movement Scholarship, which provides underprivileged youth with financial assistance to be able to participate in sports or the performing arts.
The Top Five highest ranked contestants were 1st runner-up Miss Greater Salt Lake, Jordyn Bristol; 2nd runner-up Miss Pioneer Valley, Erika Dalton; 3rd runner-up Miss Utah County, Ryleigh Paulin; and 4th runner-up Miss Wasatch County, Tayler Newman.
51 women from around the state, ages 18-28, competed in the Miss Utah Scholarship Pageant. The Miss America Program touts itself as the leading scholarship provider to women in the world.
